A presentation at NDC Oslo in in Oslo, Norway by Jayne Mast
Everything Is Awesome The LEGO Ⓡ approach to being an awesome coworker
Paul Verbeek-Mast (@paul_v_m) Web person @
“The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it.” William H. Whyte
“We have talked enough; but we have not listened.” William H. Whyte
“many leaders assume they are better at valuing diversity than they actually are” Havard Business Review – Leaders Aren’t Great at Judging How Inclusive They Are https://hbr.org/2017/10/leaders-arent-great-at-judging-how-inclusive-they-are
“The great enemy of inclusivity, we find, is the illusion of it.” Paul Verbeek-Mast
It’s about building a climate of trust, appreciation, and openness to differences in thoughts, styles and backgrounds
The early days
of tech
The early
days of tech
The early
days of tech
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
The early
days of tech
The early
days of tech
The early
days of tech
The rise of men
The rise
of men
In 1967 alone,
700,000 people took the
IBM Aptitude test
The rise
of men
Of those 1378,
only 186 were women
The rise of men “[Programmers] dislike activities involving close personal interaction.” A vocational interest scale for computer programmers
The rise of men • Antisocial personality disorder favours men by 3:1 ratio; • Autism and Asperger’s is seen as high as 7:1; • Antisocial women are seen as “not liking people”, while men are seen as a “lone wolf”
The rise of men “[The] industry selected for antisocial, mathematically inclined males, and therefore antisocial and mathematically inclined males were overrepresented in the programmer population” The Computer Boys Take Over
The rise of men “This in turn reinforced the popular perception that programmers ought
to be antisocial and mathematically inclined (and therefore male).“ The Computer Boys Take Over
The rise of men
The rise of men
The bro culture
The bro culture Joe Liemandt — Founder of Trilogy Software
The bro culture “We’re elite talent; and it’s potential and talent, not experience, that has merit.” “only the best”
The bro culture • How many piano tuners are there in the world?; • How many golf balls fit in standard double decker bus?; • How much would you charge to wash all the windows in San Francisco?
The bro culture Holidays were called competitive advantage days, because no one else was working.
The bro culture Insane work hours, drinking, gambling and Vegas. Plus valuing potential over experience, made the culture male dominated.
The bro culture
The bro culture • Susan Fowler; • Niniane Wang; • Susan Ho; • Leiti Hsu; • Sarah Kunst; • Cheryl Yeoh.
The bro culture • Women; • People of colour; • LGBTQIA+; • People with a disability; • People in economic or social hardships.
Piece of Resistance
A rant about "Inclusivity and the LEGO Movie”
If you let everyone be their unique selves, and value each other,
you can achieve great things
Equality =
uniformity
Equality =
uniformity
Equality =
uniformity
Equality !=
uniformity
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
Reach out to new colleagues
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
On-boarding buddy
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
Your whole team changes
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
Don’t assume that they will
eventually learn
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
•
Put people first;
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
Blind man vs. A man who is blind
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
•
Put people first;
•
Avoid jargons and abbreviations;
“The key test for an acronym is to ask
whether it helps or
hurts
communication. An acronym that most engineers
outside of SpaceX already know, such as GUI, is fine to
use. It is also ok to make up a
few
acronyms/
contractions every now and again, […] but those need to
be kept to a minimum.”
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
•
Put people first;
•
Avoid jargons and abbreviations;
•
“Guys” is not gender neutral;
Instead of “guys”, use “people",
“folk”, “everyone" or “y’all”.
Instead of “he” or “she”, use “they”.
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
•
Put people first;
•
Avoid jargons and abbreviations;
•
“Guys” is not gender neutral;
•
Don’t underplay the impact of mental
disabilities;
Use inclusive language
Make everyone
feel welcome
and included
•
Put people first;
•
Avoid jargons and abbreviations;
•
“Guys” is not gender neutral;
•
Don’t underplay the impact of mental
disabilities;
•
Coding is also communication;
Be humble
Accept your limitations Be humble
Listen Be humble
How many times do you bring your phone or laptop to a meeting? Be humble
Talk less, listen more Be humble
If someone needs to vent, lend them an ear Be humble
Let people be heard Be humble
“When you have a contribution to make in a meeting, how often are you able to do so?” Be humble Let people be heard Only 35% felt they were always able to make a contribution, when they had something to add
•
Introverts;
•
Remote workers;
•
Women;
•
People of colour;
Be humble
Let people be heard
•
Share the purpose of the meeting;
•
Include remote workers;
•
No talking over each other;
•
Keep it central;
•
Email a summary;
Be humble
Let people be heard
•
Interrupt long discussions;
•
Ask for opinions;
•
Give credit where it is due;
•
Feedback round;
Be humble
Let people be heard
Be humble Be an ally Someone who supports equal rights for others, and acts when people face exclusion and discrimination
Be humble • Speak their name when they aren't around; • Share their career goals with influencers; • Invite them to high-profile meetings; • Endorse them publicly; Be an ally 56% of leaders don’t value ideas they don’t personally see a need for
Be humble Be an ally • Speak their name when they aren't around; • Share their career goals with influencers; • Invite them to high-profile meetings; • Endorse them publicly; • Stop with mansplaining and manterrupting.
Be humble Mansplaining – the act of explaining something in a condescending and overconfident way; Manterrupting – when a man unnecessary interrupts a women.
@betterallies Be humble
Encourage
creativity
Get everyone’s input
Encourage
creativity
Create a safe
environment
Encourage
creativity
Utilise diversity
Know your colleagues Utilise diversity
Learn from each other Utilise diversity
You are
awesome too!
Find people who
believe in you
You are
awesome too!
Stand up for what you
believe in
You are
awesome too!
Be yourself
You are
awesome too!
A little bit of kindness
goes a long way
You are
awesome too!
Read this bo ok! Paul Verbeek-Mast (@paul_v_m) Web person @
🎵Everything is cool when you’re part of a team!🎵
The Lego Movie came out almost 4 years ago, and it taught children everywhere the importance of teamwork. And what teamwork, and working in harmony, actually is. Let’s just hope that those lessons really stick with these kids. Because let’s be honest, we’re making a mess of it.
But it’s not too late for us. We can learn from the Lego Movie as well. I’ll show you how you can help to make sure everyone feels safe and respected in your team and your company. How you can feel better being the unique person you are within your team. And how you can make your, and everyone else’s, life more awesome!
Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.
for free. You
can too.